Thank you to Laura MacPherson from Northstar Creative for teaching us what we can do to make our website more prominent on search engines like Google.

Did you know that 39% of people online are using search engines? And 33% of the people online are actively shopping for something? This places great weight in the businesses that are displayed when users search for your industry. In order to organically move the link to your business to the top of the list.

Here is what you can do on your website to make it more search-engine friendly:

•  Metadata – in the page titles and descriptions, make sure your location and keywords are in both.

•  Web Code/Programming – a handcrafted website is usually coded cleaner, which Google likes. Make sure your web designer is familiar with CSS/HTML standards.

•  Web Copy – Google likes text, and is getting smarter at reading text on websites. In writing copy, be sure to use keywords and synonyms of keywords, making about 70% of the text to be keywords. Make it read like a newspaper article, putting the most important information at the top.

•  Blogging – blogging keeps you current in your industry, and having a blog on your website drives traffic to it.

Here is what you can do off of your website to drive traffic to you:

•  Links are Votes – Google counts each high-quallity link to your site on other sites as a vote of confidence. If another website has a link to yours, this is a good thing, and the more, the better.

•  Directory Listings – take advantage of listings in free and paid directories.

•  Article Syndication – write and syndicate articles.

•  Blog Commenting – commenting on industry-related blog posts can draw like-minded individuals away from that blog to your website.

Thanks to Bryan Jeter from Lister, Jeter, & Lloyd CPA’s who schooled us on Tax 101 as part of the Greer Community Chamber Convention. For more information on tax related subjects, be sure to consult with a professional.

Here are some key points that we learned about taxes:

• Keep track. Have an eye on your taxes throughout the year. One thing that Bryan hates having to say to a client is that they have to pay $10,000 to the IRS next week. Keeping tabs on your taxes doesn’t change the amount you have to owe, but you’ll be able to tell in June what you will owe in April. At least you will know what you will have to pay, so maybe you could scale down a little during the year. Don’t take that trip around the world and 86 the remodel of your home.

• You can still get good tax cuts on buying energy efficient products in 2010, but not as much as you would for the tax year of 2009. If you buy solar panels or geothermal heating elements, tax credits could take up to 30% off of your purchase, making that break-even analysis more toward your favor.  Also, there is a good tax credit for buying an electric vehicle. These tax cuts don’t justify the purchase in itself, but if you were going to purchase a car or already looking for a new energy source, green is the way to go.

• Under the new HIRE Act, if you hire an employee in 2010 that had been unemployed for at least 60 days, you’re eligible for a tax credit. If you continue to employ that person for a year, you get an additional tax credit of $1000. This is a brand new tax credit that goes into effect this month, and it’ll give employers more incentive to help your community by employing those who currently don’t have a job.

Through new litigation going through the United States Congress, personal income tax is dramatically changing, and the tax cuts of earlier in the decade will expire after last year. For more information on the changes, sit down with a tax preparer, and they’ll be able to talk you through what’s coming up.

Scott Whelchel, with the Clemson Small Business Center, discussed creating and/or analyzing your current business model. Here are the key principles he shared that we think you need to know.

Write/refine your business plan. Whether you’re a brand new business, or a business in search of direction, formulating a business plan will help you focus your perception of who you are, where you want to go, and how you’re going to get there.

There are certain questions to ask yourself when creating a business:

•    Does it support who we are? What is your birthright; what is your reason to exist? Does the world really need another bank, magazine, marketing firm, etc.? What do you have that’s unique and that the community needs?

•    Is this business even possible? Is it going to cost you a boat-load of cash to reach your goal? It may be a great idea, but it may not fall into the realm of reality for you.

•    Is it profitable? It may be a great idea and affordable, and not ever make you a dime.

•    Does it help us achieve long-term goals? Can it build wealth for the family business, build name recognition, or move you father down the line?

Writing a business plan forces you to focus your business’s purpose, narrowing you down from all the things that you could do to the things you should do. It requires critical thought and analysis, asking yourself the tough questions and really challenging yourself. You may think you know what kind of customers you want to sell to or what kind of partners you want to work with, but upon further analysis, you may think differently. You may think you know how you want to reach your customers, but when you research it further you realize that it’s not the most effective tool. Whelchel warns, “If the success of your business hinges upon social media—be careful.” While it may aid your marketing now, it may not help to reach the long-term goals you set for yourself.

A business plan should describe the operation of your business, clarify and outline the financial needs of your business, help you effectively manage your business, and build your confidence and credibility as a business. At some point you have to communicate your vision in writing to others.

Remember, the magic isn’t in the written document itself, but the magic is in the process. Asking yourself the tough questions now will save you the trouble later down the road. Investors and lenders will be able to see that you have carefully thought out the vision of your business, and employees will be more aware of what you expect from them.

Key Tweets from @InsideBlackBox (www.twitter.com/InsideBlackBox):

•    Remember: you can’t be all things to all people. Know your position in the marketplace.

•    You get farther at the end of the day if you focus on fewer targets in a specific target market.

•    Common theme in looking at your biz plan (old or new): Research and Refine. Challenge your ideas and study your (target) market.

•    Your momma won’t tell your if your biz plan stinks. Go thru the process; challenge assumptions.

For more Twitter coverage of the speakers at this year’s Greer Community Commerce Convention, hit up search.twitter.com and search #GreerCCC

Join the convo using that same hashtag in your tweets!

We need you to be our eyes and ears. As we focus on the many faces of Upstate business, let us know who you think should be featured in upcoming issues of Business Black Box. We’re looking for people and businesses that fit these descriptions, and we know that you know who they are!

Trailblazers: Some blend in, some stick out, but all Trailblazers have one thing in common. It’s not that they’re all successful or have reached a certain level of fame. Trailblazers are people who are either doing something no one has ever done before (and succeeding) or they’ve taken something old and status quo and made it new by doing it in a way no one has ever tried before.

Speed Pitch: For individuals looking to start up a business or take their business to the next level, we’ve provided a venue for them to share their pitch so it can be critiqued by key players in their field as well as investors. Are people likely to invest based on your pitch? Find out here and receive critiques to make it even stronger.

Big Picture: For those people in the Upstate who sit back and think, “I wonder what all went into making this facility a reality,” we created Big Picture, and feature a different Upstate location covering a two-page spread and print a by-the-numbers breakdown of what went into creating it. It’s a great way to take a peek into how local development and expansion is impacting Upstate businesses across the board.

101 Days: Whether you look at it as 2,424 hours, 145,440 minutes, or 8,726,400 seconds, 101 Days is a detailed look at a local business for this predetermined amount of time. We usually feature emerging businesses or businesses looking to take their next big step in development. See their processes, their struggles and their successes—and learn a thing or two along the way.

What Matters: In What Matters, Business Black Box takes an alternative look at Upstate business. Here we focus on the people and the lives behind that business. Know someone from the Upstate with an incredible story? Fill us in on what happened and why it matters to you.

If you know anyone who fits any of these categories, let us know by email, and they may be featured in an issue of Business Black Box.

We look forward to your insights!

Members of the Greenville community will hold a meeting for the public offering information regarding the Global Pebble Project, local non-profit Water of Life’s most recent ministry, on Tuesday, July 14th, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Higher Ground Coffee Shop located in Redemption World Outreach Center.

Water of Life has worked to provide needy areas in Central America and Africa with access to clean water since 2001. The meeting will be drop-in style and geared toward answering questions about joining a trip, volunteering, or learning more about what Water of Life specifically does.

The event will include pictures and video as well as people to speak with about Water of Life’s current work in Liberia and is free of charge.

More information regarding this event can be found on its event page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=102296233670&ref=nf.

You can also visit Water of Life’s web site at www.givefreshwater.org.

Water of Life is Business Black Box’s non-profit of choice for 2009.